Needs Assessment and Analysis
Start with the gap, not the course
Every training project begins with a question: is there a real performance gap, and is training the right fix? Needs assessment answers that. A workable model has three levels: organizational analysis (goals, culture, resources, compliance drivers, injury and incident records), task/operational analysis (a task breakdown with the knowledge, skills, and abilities each task demands), and individual/person analysis (who the learners are - prior experience, literacy, language, shift schedules, attitudes).
Audience analysis is routinely under-weighted in safety training. A course written for a degreed engineer will fail a crew with limited literacy, and regulations generally expect training delivered in a manner the employee can understand.
Trap: the stem describes a problem (repeat lockout violations) and offers "conduct training" as the answer. Mager's performance analysis says: if the worker could do it correctly when their life depended on it, the deficiency is not skill - it is feedback, consequences, tools, or a confusing procedure. Training will not fix it.
Trap: confusing needs assessment with evaluation. Assessment happens before design; evaluation happens after delivery.
Rule of thumb: gather at least three independent data sources - records review, observation, and interviews or focus groups - before concluding a gap exists.
Worked example: A plant has three hand injuries in a year. Records show they cluster on second shift; observation shows the guarding procedure is missing from the second-shift binder; interviews confirm workers know the procedure. Conclusion: a documentation and enforcement problem, not a training need - a job aid and a shift audit fix it more cheaply.